title: Number fluctuations of the condensing agent affects the coil-toroid coexistence for semi-stiff polyelectrolytes.
abstract: A semi-stiff charged polymer with counterions and salt was investigated using a Monte Carlo method with the Wang-Landau sampling scheme. Simulations show the coexistence of thermodynamically stable structures-prolonged and compact (toroidal-like). The transition between the two states is accompanied by concentration fluctuations for the condensing agent. Compact structures are accompanied by more multivalent counterions than prolonged ones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Uppsala University, SE-751 23, Uppsala, Sweden. alexey.siretskiy@fki.uu.se
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siretskiy
authors.forename: Malek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry*; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011336:Probability; D012399:Rotation
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D011108:Polymers